Mark Wyman
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman
@markwyman.bsky.social
210 followers 160 following 380 posts
Former pop chart aficionado, slowly recreating my 400-track singles chart from 1980 via Spotify. Used to know lots about (and write stuff on) television. Once produced a CD-ROM for Oliver Postgate. Now back in London after a spring/summer in Vancouver.
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · Sep 12
Time to unveil Part 4 of my personal pop countdown from 1980.
This rock-heavy section should contain 40 more tracks, but a couple of them are too obscure for Spotify. They are on YouTube though, so the missing pair will be revealed soon!
open.spotify.com/playlist/7xQ...

#Forgotten80s
#80sRock
My top 400 singles of 1980: #280 to 241
open.spotify.com
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11h
This was Stevie's first UK hit of the '80s: just a minor one, not even making the Top 50. That lovely tune is really overused and the distracting percussion still sounds like a #bicycle pump. Maybe it was a plant spray? One more from Stevie to come; a masterful hit from later in 1980.
#Forgotten80s
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11h
Track 243 of 400: “OUTSIDE MY WINDOW” by Stevie Wonder
A gorgeous melody in this, from one of the stranger byways in the long career of Stevland Morris (his real name). It's from his soundtrack to “The Secret Life of Plants”, a 1979 documentary based on a pseudoscientific book about plant sentience.
Stevie Wonder - Outside My Window (Tamla Records 1979)
YouTube video by SoftRock&PopTV
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11h
The #BluesBand continued to record and perform for decades, alongside Jones's broadcasting career. They released over two dozen albums in total, including live LPs, until their final concerts in 2022—the year Jones turned 80—but nothing they released would make the UK charts after 1981.
#80sBlues
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11h
Track 244 of 400: “COME IN IN” by The Blues Band
A second and final appearance—see also track No. 352—for the upbeat #blues rockers led by Paul Jones, from their hit “Official Bootleg Album”. “Come On In” sounds like it could have been a vintage standard by 1980, but was written within the band.
The Blues Band - Come On In [HD]
YouTube video by HipTony Music
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 12h
Reaching No. 37 in the UK, this was Barracudas' only hit. I can't recall if I knew which side of the Atlantic they hailed from, but it was probably the first time I'd heard “Plymouth” in reference to a car make. That may have resonated as I was growing up 60 miles west of Plymouth.
#Forgotten80s
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Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 12h
Track 245 of 400: “SUMMER FUN” by Barracudas
Sounding for all the world like a slice of retro Americana, this entertaining bit of #SurfRock was actually the early work of a London-based band (albeit with a Canadian-born singer). The song is quite average but its spoof car-dealer intro sets it apart.
THE BARRACUDAS - SUMMER FUN (1980) - HQ AUDIO VIDEO EDIT
YouTube video by JohnnyBoySoul
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 5d
I was on my first reading of Lord of the Rings when this gorgeous song was in the charts, and somehow it conjured up enough of the sense of an epic to make me instinctively feel it fits a Tolkien soundtrack. Which it wouldn't really, but that elision never goes away for me.
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 5d
After a super-calm slow start, there's some pleasingly baroque touches here without lurching into prog rock as such. This song is not to be confused with the #Stranglers' 1977 track “Goodbye Toulouse”, but oddly enough both bands released singles titled “Strange Little Girl” - just four years apart.
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 5d
Track 246 of 400: “NOTHING LEFT TOULOUSE” by Sad Café
Not content with an album title that was an anagram of their name (see track #270), #SadCafé released this punningly-named single in 1980. It was a much smaller hit in the UK than “My Oh My” but I rather preferred this one.
#Forgotten80s
Sad Café - - Nothing left, Toulouse
YouTube video by Azaum1907
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 6d
The fourth of the multi-talented Jackson siblings to be born, Jermaine was almost four years older than Michael, of that famous clan, and often the second-most prominent singer after him in the Jackson Five. He stayed with #Motown in the mid-70s when the other brothers decamped to Epic Records.
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 6d
Track 247 of 400: “LET'S GET SERIOUS” by Jermaine Jackson
This was the surprisingly muscular, bass-heavy UK chart debut for Jermaine—formerly of the #JacksonFive. He was already a prolific artist in his own right in the US. It was the title track from his sixth solo album (he eventually made 14).
Jermaine Jackson - Let's Get Serious • TopPop
YouTube video by TopPop
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 6d
As a single, “Spirits (Having Flown)” was a belated release of the title track from their February 1979 album, which also included their more familiar No. 1 of that year, #Tragedy. This 7-incher didn't make the UK Top 10 but I found it more than a match for their giant hits of this era.
#80sBallads
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Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 6d
Track 248 of 400: “SPIRITS (HAVING FLOWN)” by The Bee Gees
Perhaps a surprising inclusion for me but yes, here are the Brothers Gibb making an appearance on my 1980 chart. I won't pretend to have been captivated by their falsetto voices often, but the progression in this tune is quite thrilling.
Bee Gees - Spirits (Having Flown)
YouTube video by Theflyinhawaiian2000
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 9d
Still led on vocals at this time by #LionelRichie, who would go solo in 1982, “Wonderland” followed “Sail On” and “Still”—both Top 10 hits in the UK—as a release from that 1979 album, but reached only No. 40 nationally. Some great bass work aside, there's not too much memorable about it.
#80sSoul
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 9d
Track 249 of 400: “WONDERLAND” by The Commodores
Best known for ballads such as their 1978 UK No.1 “Three Times A Lady”, the Commodores were a soul combo who could also get quite steely, as on their classic “Easy”. This final single from the LP “Midnight Magic” did not prove to have that status.
Wonderland
YouTube video by Commodores - Topic
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 10d
Many of JCC's compositions, such as “36 Hours” benefited from a stellar backing band who bolstered his startling couplets. The Invisible Girls included producer and Factory records stalwart Martin Hannett on bass plus the seasoned Paul Burgess, then the sticksman for 10CC, on drums.
#80sPunkPoets
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Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 10d
Track 250 of 400: “36 HOURS” by John Cooper Clarke
That's 3/8ths of my 400 tracks accounted for now! Billy Joel may be a fine wordsmith, but he's no performance poet in the vein of JCC - the Bard of Salford. This track was on a double-A sided single taken from his 1980 album “Snap, Crackle & Bop”.
John Cooper Clarke - 36 Hours (remaster)
YouTube video by RileyELFuk
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 10d
Lighter in tone than much of that 1980 album, "Don't Ask Me why" was Joel at his wittiest and most economical. Maybe it's a sketch that lacks a little substance, but it's such an enjoyable three minutes. Predictably, as a single it didn't chart in the UK but was a Top 20 hit Stateside.
#80sSingers
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Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 10d
Track 251 of 400: “DON'T ASK ME WHY” by Billy Joel
A change of style here, with the first of four entries on my 1980 chart for New York's piano man himself. All four were tracks on his album released that March, “Glass Houses”, his first LP to reach the UK Top 10. This was the final single from it.
Billy Joel: Don't Ask Me Why (Live in London - June 8, 1984) [HD]
YouTube video by Matthew - Billy Joel Bootlegs
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
This Xmas single took its title from a #MarxBrothers routine in “A Night at the Opera”, a film that was 45 years old in 1980. The Damned didn't have much fortune as a chart act: their 1976 single “New Rose” is often seen as the UK's first #punkrock release, but the Sex Pistols hogged the limelight.
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
Track 252 of 400: “THERE AIN'T NO SANITY CLAUSE” by The Damned
Yet another non-charting UK single, as the #Damned failed to crack 1980's lucrative Christmas market. Perversely, this single was released in the same month as their double LP “The Black Album”, yet didn't appear on it.
#80sPunk
The Damned - There Ain't No Sanity Clause
YouTube video by fery2
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
Pat Benatar was not the first to record this hard-rock anthem: it was written for and released by English singer Jenny Darren in 1978. But stop press: #DollyParton, no less, released a fine version (in collaboration with Benatar) on her epic 2023 covers album “Rockstar”. Dolly was then aged 77.
markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
Track 253 of 400: “HEARTBREAKER” by Pat Benatar
The breakthrough hit for a great rock singer in N. America and Australasia; her debut album made the Top 3 in Canada. It took a while longer for #Benatar to enter the UK charts, when “Love is a Battlefield” just crept into our Top 50 in 1983.
#80sRock
PAT BENATAR - "Heartbreaker" on ROCK POP (1980)
YouTube video by PatBenatarLibrary
www.youtube.com
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markwyman.bsky.social
Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
I effectively have, and thank you! I usually avoid much jetlag after long-haul flights but a little infection was all it took to throw me off balance for a week (we arrived home a fortnight ago already).
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Mark Wyman @markwyman.bsky.social · 11d
“Train in Vain” was an unusual early example of a hidden track: it was added to the vinyl LP of “London Calling” too late to be listed on the sleeve or label. Many listeners assumed it was called “Stand by Me”, as the title is not sung. Ben E King fans were probably more confused than most.
#80sRock